Tuesday, January 5, 2016

The John King Mansion -- No. 19 East 69th Street

Even before Charles
Buek & Co. started construction on three upscale homes on Madison Avenue in
1885, two had already been sold.The
sites of the planned Queen Anne-style houses were on the east side of the avenue,
from the northeast corner of 69th Street to No. 833, two doors to the
north.

William C. Lane had purchased the corner mansion, completed
in 1886.With an ample frontage of 27
feet along Madison Avenue, the house stretched along 69th Street for
65 feet.The architects placed the
entrance on the side street, with the address of No. 19 East 69th.The arrangement allowed for greater
flexibility and more generous proportions of the interior layout.

The English basement and parlor floor levels were clad in
undressed fieldstone, in contrast to the tidy brick upper floors.Here openings were framed in dressed brownstone.The fourth floor supported a steeply-angled
hipped roof interrupted by sharply pointed dormers.Exaggeratedly tall, paneled brick chimneys
erupted from the roof.

Lane was a wealthy and respected businessman, highly
involved in the exclusive Union League Club.The Vice President of the United States Cordage Company, he was also an
officer in the Chicago Junction Railway and Union Stock Yards Company.

Lane’s United States Cordage Company would suffer heavy
losses, eventually failing in 1895.It
was possibly this situation which prompted him to sell No. 19 East 69th
Street only two years after moving in.On October 6, 1888 the Real Estate Record & Builders’ Guide reported
that he had sold it to another railroad mogul, John King, for $87,500 (about
$2.25 million in 2015).

The 56-year old King’s rise to the Presidency of the Erie
Railroad was inspiring.The New
York Times would later remember “He received only a common school education.”His uncle, John W. Barrett, was the head of
the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad and gave the boy a job as ticket seller in a
suburban station.

King remained with the Baltimore and Ohio for 27 years,
receiving small promotions until he became First Vice President.In 1881, now wealthy and influential, he
retired because of ill health and took his family to Europe for three
years.While there, William H. Vanderbilt
sent King a telegram, offering the presidency of a railroad, which he declined.

But in 1883 Vanderbilt convinced him to return to America to
manage and rehabilitate the Erie Railroad.A year later, in November 1884, he was elected President.Through his remarkable executive abilities the
Erie Railroad was reorganized and returned to profitability.

The Kings were highly visible in visible in social circles,
owned another town home in Baltimore and a country estate in Maryland.The Times noted that he was “a member of
fully twoscore of clubs and associations, both public and private, in this
country and in Europe.”His Manhattan
memberships included the Century Club, the Metropolitan, the Manhattan, the
Lawyers’ Club, the New York Whist Club, the Tuxedo, and the Southern Society.

Despite the uptown location of their new mansion, the Kings
remained members of the fashionable St. George’s Episcopal Church on Stuyvesant
Square.John King was at one time a
vestryman of the church, of which his close friend, J. Pierpont Morgan, was a
warden.

King’s health remained a concern and in 1890 he suffered a “mild
stroke of paralysis,” causing him to go to the healthful climate of California
for three months.Here, according to The
Times, “he was apparently restored to his normal vigor.”

King and his wife had three children, only one of which was
still at home.Helen was popular in society
and frequently appeared in the society columns alongside the daughters of
Manhattan’s finest families.An
surprising article appeared in The New York Times on May 25, 1894, however,
with the headline “Miss Pierson and Miss King to Try Convent Life.”

Episcopal Bishop Starkey of Newark had come up with the idea
of removing privileged young ladies from their glittering social routines of
balls and theater dinners for a sample of a less material existence.The Times article began “What promises to be
a fad in the social world of New-York will be inaugurated by two well-known and
charming young society girls, Miss Daisy Pierson, daughter of Gen. and Mrs. J.
Frederic Pierson of 24 West Thirty-fourth Street, and Miss Helen King, daughter
of John King of 19 East Sixty-ninth Street, President of the Erie Railroad.”

The girls were preparing for a six-week retreat beginning on
June 6, 1894 at St. Gabriel’s Episcopal Convent at Peekskill, New York.Helen and Daisy were indeed trailblazing the “fad.”The newspaper estimated that “nearly 150
women” were expected to do the same later.

“While at the convent the young women will submit themselves
entirely to its rules, taking part in its continuous services and prayers,”
reported the newspaper.Life would be
considerably different from Helen’s normal Manhattan routine that required her familiarity
with fish knives and oyster forks, the proper deportment during a promenade,
and which costumes to wear before lunch and after dinner.

“While on the grounds they will be accompanied by a sister
and will only leave the establishment for a drive of an hour or two daily,”
explained the newspaper.“Miss King and
Miss Pierson have laid out a course of study of civil government, art, and
literature to pursue while in retreat.”

A year after the article appeared, John King’s health forced
him to resign from the Erie Railroad in May 1895.That same month he sold the mansion to Edward
Copeland Wallace for $85,000. He took his wife and Helen to Europe in hope that his
health would improve.Unfortunately, his
worsening condition prevented the “leisure tour” he had hoped for; and he died
in Beaulieu near Nice on Wednesday, March 17, 1897.

Edward Copeland Wallace and his family moved into the 69th
Street mansion from Brooklyn, where they had been active in society.Called by The Evening World a “millionaire
iron magnate,” Wallace would find himself in serious trouble following an
accident near Nyack, New York on May 29, 1902.

The Wallaces maintained a country estate in fashionable
Tuxedo Park.That afternoon Wallace was
behind the wheel of his roadster, heading there with his son in the car.Also out that day were wealthy lawyer Edward
T. Lovatt and his wife, whose country home was in Spring Valley, New York.

The Lovatts were taking a casual afternoon drive to Nyack in
their wagon.As they approached a
crossroads, Lovatt later testified, “I saw an automobile coming down from the
top of the hill at a rapid rate.”That “rapid
rate” was later estimated to be 30 miles per hour—a shockingly fast pace in
1902.

Lovatt stood up in the wagon and, holding the reins with his
right hand, waved frantically with his left while shouting “Stop! Stop!”When Wallace’s bright red auto continued
forward, Lovatt said he cried “For God’s sake, stop!”

Mrs. Lovatt was terrified and screamed “Please, stop!”But the Wallace automobile continued.Lovatt’s horse reared, becoming
uncontrollable.It galloped up an embankment,
tossing Mrs. Lovatt out of the vehicle first, and then Edward Lovatt as the
wagon overturned.

According to Lovatt’s testimony on June 7, Wallace “paid no
attention, and laughed as he whizzed by.” Mrs. Lovatt (deemed by the New-York
Tribune to be a “heavy woman") lay unconscious by the road, seriously bruised
and with one arm broken.

Lovatt’s injuries were less severe and, according to the
Tribune, “after he had cared for his wife, set out to bag the offending
chauffeur.”The lawyer went to a
telephone and called the West Nyack Hotel. He described the automobile and instructed
the hotel to stop it.

He was told “It has just passed.”

Determined, Lovatt called the next hotel down the road,
Knapp’s Hotel.This time he was in time
and Wallace was stopped.But the tycoon glibly
explained that no one was injured in the accident, left his business card, and preceded
onward toward Tuxedo Park.

Refusing defeat, Edward Lovatt telephone his son, John, in
Spring Valley and “instructed him to stop the machine and hold the occupants,”
said the Tribune.“The son was not slow
to act upon the instructions he received, and with the assistance of others
barricaded a bridge which the automobile must cross with planks and rails tied
together with ropes.”

When Wallace’s car was forced to stop, John E. Lovatt “grabbed
the driver by the throat” and “dragged Mr. Wallace from the auto,” as reported
in The Evening World.He was taken to
Nyack as a prisoner and released on $200 bail.At his trial on June 5 he faced charges of “speeding his automobile and
refusing to stop upon signal from a horseman.”

And there was also the issue of a $25,000 suit filed by Mrs. Lovatt for
damages.

Although Lovatt produced eye witnesses, David Summers and
his wife; Wallace’s attorney moved for a dismissal “on the ground that the
offence [sic] with which Mr. Wallace was charged had not been proved.”The motion was denied.

The same year that he endured the court appearance, Wallace’s
brother General William Copeland Wallace died.His death prevented the debut of his daughter, Helen.Two years later, after the expected period of
mourning, she was feted with several lavish entertainments.One of these was a debutante dance at the
Metropolitan Club in January 1904 hosted by the Edward Wallaces.

In November the following year Edward Copeland Wallace sold
the East 69th Street house to 36-year old society dentist Wilber M.
Dailey.He and his wife, the former Cora
I. Fletcher, had one son, Wilber Jr.The dentist practiced in partnership with his brother, Dr. Washington Dailey.Their high class clientele was exemplified by
their working on the teeth of Prince Louis of Battenberg in 1905.

On November 21 that year the New-York Tribune reported that “According
to a man who was closely associated with the prince while he was here, one of
the last things that Prince Louis of Battenberg did yesterday before leaving
the hotel for his flagship was to settle a bill of $1,000 presented by Drs.
Wilber M. and Washington Dailey, dentists, at No. 30 West 39th-st.,
for operating on the prince’s teeth Friday, Saturday and Sunday.”

The newspaper noted that the prince paid his bill “without
protest.”Each of the prince’s visits
lasted three hours.“He had five
sessions in all, so the bill shows that he paid at the rate of $200 a visit.”

The prince would certainly not be Wilber M. Dailey’s last,
nor most illustrious patient.He was,
for instance, the personal dentist to President and Mrs. Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Esteemed in the dental field (he was awarded the Lord Price
for advancement of dental practice methods in 1927 by the First District Dental
Society of New York State), he was also a highly-respected amateur landscape artist.The Daileys' summer home was near Woodstock,
New York and while there he devoted much of his time to painting.The New York Times noted that “Many of his
views of Northern New York had received critical acclaim.”

Wilber M. Dailey lived at No. 19 East 69th Street
for over three decades.He died in the
mansion on Saturday evening, February 27, 1937.Exactly how much longer Cora remained in house is unclear; however in
1946 it was converted to apartments—the first step in a series of architectural degradation.

By 1951 stores had been installed at street level and the
apartments above were operated as the Congress Hotel.Excitement occurred in 1952 when 40-year old
Gerhard Puff and his 17-year old wife, Annie Laurie, arrived in town and headed
here.

Puff was a well-known bank robber whose photo appeared on
the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted List.Not long
after the couple arrived at the Congress Hotel, agents stormed the
building.Puff attempted to sneak down
the stairs and finding himself face-to-face with a FBI agent, shot and killed
him.The murder bought Puff an execution
in the electric chair on August 12, 1954.

That was the year that the City Gardens Club opened its
offices here.The club would remain in
the building at least through 1971.Meanwhile, upscale shops came and went at street level.In 1960 the Champagne Shop opened on the 69th
Street side; while the New Masters Gallery faced Madison Avenue.

Since around 1980 Pratesi Linens has called the retail space
home.The upscale tenor of the shop is
reflected in the $835 price tag for a Belle de Jour sheet set in 2001, and a
$2,800 Chain jacquard sheet set marked down to $1,260 in 2013.

photo by the author

Almost all traces of Charles Buek & Co.'s imposing Queen
Anne mansion below the third floor have been obliterated.But by looking up, the passerby can get a
glimpse of the home where a railroad mogul, an iron tycoon and a celebrity
dentist lived in sumptuous style.

1 comment:

"Morgan was a member of the Union Club in New York City. When his friend, Erie Railroad president John King, was black-balled, Morgan resigned and organized the Metropolitan Club of New York. He donated the land on 5th Avenue and 60th Street at a cost of $125,000, and commanded Stanford White to "...build me a club fit for gentlemen, forget the expense...". He invited King in as a charter member and served as club president from 1891 to 1900."